News

21st March 2018

ROBINSON’S ACADEMY ROUNDUP

U19s Academy, currently unbeaten in 2018, travel to face Wigan on Saturday

Huddersfield Giants Under 19s Academy remain undefeated after a 24-4 victory over Widnes Vikings on Saturday and Luke Robinson explained how his side has managed this unbeaten run early into the 2018 season:

“To be undefeated so far is a good achievement, it’s only early doors so we’re not getting carried away.

“If I’m being honest we’ve got a really good bunch of blokes with a really good work ethic and they’re not going to get carried away with themselves.

“It’s still a work in progress, but it’s a pretty decent start.”

“Widnes are a good side, Danny Walker has played a few first team games for them and played for them on Saturday, they’ve got players within that team who have first team experience.

“For us to face Widnes in Baltic conditions with the horrendous weather and win shows the character the team have got this year.

“The team are really working hard, they’ve bought into my style of play and the way I want to play.

“Jon Luke Kirby carried the ball well, Louis Senior has been great for us at full back and Sam Hewitt has been consistent,” mentioned Robinson. “But Lucas Hallas has bought into my game, which is based on effort. He’s first on the kick chase, working on the inside, to a teammate and a coach you see these things and he’s been really good so far.”

The 2018 campaign has been a positive season so far for the Giants under 19s, despite being impacted by injuries:

“The pre-season we had was extremely difficult and we’ve really put them through their paces. We’ve had a few obstacles thrown at us, I only had 18 men to pick from, which is crazy to think at the start of the season you should have your biggest size squad, and I think it’s going to be even worse this week with suspensions and injuries, so we haven’t got many players to pick from.”

“We lost Innes Senior, who’s been really influential for us, and Jack Flynn is one of our main 9s, and to add to that we’ve now lost Louis Senior to suspension, so there’s got to be a bit of reshuffling.

“We don’t know whether Dom Young is going to play yet, so it’s put us a bit light in the outside backs. We’ve also got a couple of lads who are unwell so we’re down to the bare bones at the moment.”

The Under 19s side face Wigan Warriors away from home on Saturday, who the Claret and Gold side drew 13-13 with in Round 1, and Robinson is excited for his side to face one of the best teams in the league:

“These are the sorts of games you’re excited about, I wish I was still involved in these as a player, you want to play against the best whatever age bracket you’re in and you want to test yourself.

“It’s strange playing them in such a close proximity, we had a pretty good game last time, it was fiery and we’re expecting the same again.

“I’m a little disappointed that we’ve lost Louis for the game after he got sinbinned, but we’ve got players who can play in multiple roles and I’m hoping for a win this time around.”

Robinson also credited the Huddersfield Giants Supporters Association who help run the U19s home games:

“The Supporters Association have really helped drive the Academy games. The Club as a whole is really trying to push in the same direction to make it a success and it’s great for the lads. There was snow, hail, wind and rain at the game on Saturday and there was still a lot of people that came down to show their support. The more that come down and get behind the lads, the better it makes them feel.”